Kalahari.net and the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) are collaborating on a pilot research project to investigate the impact of academic content available in electronic format.
Kalahari says this is a bid to create a better understanding of digital content in an academic environment.
Professor John Powell, director of the USB, says the project was initiated due to the lack of credible research to determine what the extent of the consumption of e-books in the academic environment is, and how it impacts on student learning.
Research aims
“Our expectation is that the research will deliver concise feedback that can be integrated into our current systems to create an even better learning environment for our students,” he says.
Powell explains that the aim is to understand from a user's perspective what challenges and potential solutions there are for digital content in an academic environment.
Gary Hadfield, CEO of Kalahari, says: “By understanding how the consumption of digital content differs from that of printed content (in an academic environment), academic institutions can respond to challenges and leverage opportunities.”
Powell says the impact of electronic content on students who do not own or have access to computers or digital readers at home will also be considered. “We look forward to gaining insight into this challenge and identifying viable solutions from the participating students.”
Software focus
Research will be carried out via a combination of monthly focus groups, online questionnaires and ongoing feedback, says Powell.
Hadfield says Kalahari's digital content team will be used to respond to suggestions, and to obtain and provide the digital content and software.
The research project will run for four months with the first focus group feedback sessions taking place this week, according to Kalahari.
It says the project will focus on software and not on devices. “As exciting as the iPad, e-readers and tablets might be, their usage is secondary to the objectives of this project, which focuses on content,” says Powell.
He also says the biggest challenge at this stage is to find content providers that are willing to supply material in a protected digital format for students to consume. This includes prescribed and additional content and digitised course content.
“Through this research, we hope to understand these challenges better so that, at the conclusion of this project, we can help overcome them.”
The project runs until November and the report on the findings is expected to be ready early next year, according to Powell.
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